Manly consider salary cap appeal

Manly consider salary cap appeal

MANLY claim they have strong grounds to appeal long-term salary cap sanctions and hefty fines handed down by the NRL stemming from findings of widespread breaches.

The NRL wiped $330,000 from the club's 2018 and 2019 caps on Monday, and fined the club $750,000 after they found the Sea Eagles had promised 13 players a combined $1.5 million in additional payments outside the cap during contract negotiations in the past five years.

More than 800,000 documents were seized as part of the NRL's nine-month investigation, with chief operating officer Neil Bare and and former chief executive Joe Kelly - now with the Sydney Roosters - suspended for 12 months as part of a 115-page determination.

No points will be stripped as Manly are already cap compliant without releasing players, but their 2018 figure now virtually only allows for just two minimum- salary players to be added to complete their roster of 30.

But Manly denied the central allegations of the findings on Monday afternoon, and insisted it had not paid players above salary cap declarations.

"At this stage, our club believes that there are strong grounds to appeal, based on the material presented today," the club said in a statement.

"The club is awaiting preliminary legal advice and will respond in more detail once that advice has been received."

Club legend Bob Fulton's future in the game is also significantly threatened, after NRL CEO Todd Greenberg confirmed the rugby league Immortal was found to have been involved in negotiations before he stepped away last year.